Remilia may not have wanted a present, but she’s going to get one! One in the form of you helping her set up for tonight that is. You grab your costume and quickly say bye to everyone before rushing out. Byakuren is taking Kogasa out trick-or-treating and Shou is watching the house. You asked her if she wanted to come, but she said she wasn’t feeling well and just wants to lounge around the house. She does have a slight temperature, but she says she normally runs hot and that you shouldn’t worry about it.

It’s a little after five when you get to Remilias home. And WOW is it decked out! She has scarecrows, fake tombstones, ghosts hanging from the roof of the building, at least five jack-o-lanterns and fake blood splattered on the windows. One of the tombstones reads, “Remilia Scarlet” another reads “Flandre Scarlet”. Some of the other tombstones look to be for members of their family. It’s a little amusing, but at the same time it’s off putting.

The normal metal knocker on the front door has been replaced with a skull themed one. You knock on the door a few times, not loudly but apparently loud enough as the door opens almost immediately. You are greeted by Sakuya, already wearing her “costume”. “Hello Alex,” she greets pleasantly. She looked surprised to see you, but quickly gathers her composure. “What are you doing here so early?”

“Well, I was getting antsy and figured I could help set up. If you don’t mind that is.” She smiles and gestures for you come inside. The interior is just as impressive as the outside. There are a few pumpkins in the foyer and on the staircase, ghost streamers hanging from the ceiling, some of the paintings and portraits have been replaced with pictures of monsters.

“I appreciate the help, Remilia is busy getting ready. So it falls to me to make sure everything is perfect, inside and out.” She hands you a small notepad with multiple things crossed off.

“Place DecorationsSet Up Tables Put Out Snacks Make SnacksPlace Cups Retrieve Drinks Put On CostumeSet Up Chairs In The Ballroom Make Gift BagsSpray Windows With BloodMake Cake”

“Wow, looks like you have most of this list done already!” The list doesn’t seem that extensive, but it’s probably just a brief overview of what needs to be done. “So, where do I start?”

**********

You wound up starting with the tables. She had you bring in the tables from a shed out back and set them up pretty much everywhere. You’re glad she helped you carry them, but she really didn’t need to, they weren’t all that heavy. Next you had to set up chairs around the ballroom and even in other rooms. All that didn’t take too terribly long, but it was still tedious.

Once that was done, you helped her set put out the snacks and punch. The snacks range from chips to candies to mini hotdogs and pizza rolls. Sakuya said that the punch wasn’t what she was supposed to retrieve, so she can’t cross that off her list just yet. While she does that she asks you to organize the cups in a neat fashion.

Not long after you finish making the last pyramid out of the cups Sakuya returns with a box that she quickly stores under a table. You don’t really pay attention to it because she knocked the table and caused a few of the pyramids to collapse. “Maybe a pyramid wasn’t the best idea,” you mumble to yourself as you fix them.

You completely forget about the box Sakuya had by the time she asks you to go check on Remilia for her. “I would do it myself, but I need to go around and make sure everything is in place.”

“Okay, her room has her name on the door, right?” She nods. “Okay, I’ll be back in a few then.” She smiles gratefully as you walk away. The house looks nice and you can’t wait for the party to actually start. It takes you a minute to find her room, but when you do you instinctively go to open it. Luckily you stop yourself. You’d hate to have a repeat of the incident with Medicine. Knocking on the door you call out to her, “Remilia? Sakuya wanted me to check upon you.” You check your watch quickly. Oh wow, it’s six fifty! There is no way it took two hours for you to help Sakuya set up! Well, you guess that it just didn’t seem like that long because you were busy.

“Alex? You may come in,” she calls back to you. Opening the door you see Remilia standing in front of a full body mirror. She’s wearing a tight, black strapless dress with heels and a bat shaped chocker. She even has long black gloves that go past her elbow. Her sky blue hair is nice and straight and has a small pumpkin and bat clip in it. You feel no shame in admitting that she looks great right now. She turns away from the mirror and smiles seductively at you, revealing a set of plastic vampire teeth. Placing one hand on her hip and leaning forward a little she asks, “So, how do I look?”

-Choose one [] “Other than the rather obvious attempt to seduce me? You look good.” [] “You’d probably look better without that hairclip. But other than that, not bad.” [] “Eh, same as always.” [] Say nothing, just stare. [] Write-in (Something clever please!) ---------- Who doesn't appreciate friendly teasing?

Well, thread four...

Who knew I could do it? In just over one year I got to my fourth thread for this, that's without updating daily for the majority of it too. I don't know why, but this feels like such an accomplishment for me.

You let out a long, appreciative whistle as you look her up from top to bottom. “If you're trying to convince me to willingly submit my life's blood to you, Miss Vampire,” you say with a playful smile. “It's working.” She takes a couple steps towards you with a warm and sweet smile. Seriously though, looking good."

“Thank you Alex,” She says stepping right next to you. “I am very thankful for you coming to help set up. Sakuya works hard and when I try to help, I just make things worse.” Her voice is lacking its usual grandeur. It sounds, relaxed. “Normally, my father or Sakuya is the first to see me in my costume. Consider yourself lucky.”

“Oh, I do,” you tease, giving her a wink in the process. “So, the party should be starting soon. I should probably get in costume.”

“There is a guest bedroom just down the hall. Feel free to leave your clothes in there.” You nod and hurry down to the first floor to grab the grocery bag you were carrying your clothes in. A few people are already there so you hurry and rush to the guest room. With what you had lying around you were able to assemble a decent vampire costume. Shou joked that if all else failed you could have just wrapped yourself up in toilet paper and been a mummy.

Your outfit is nothing more than an old, raggedy white button up shirt with fake blood splattered on it and a pair of black dress pants. You got a pair of cheap novelty vampire teeth to go with it, but you can’t really stand having them in for long. It won’t kill you to put them in later, so for now they go in your pocket.

Stepping outside the room you see Remilia who is hiding from the view of those downstairs. “Problem?” You ask.

“No, I just wish to wait until exactly seven to head down.” She says looking at the grandfather clock that is stationed at the top of the stairs. “The moment it chimes is when I will make my grand entrance.” She is wearing a nervous smile at the moment.

“So, how old are you turning today?” You inquire.

“Seventeen,” she answers. “I am only a little bit younger than you are.” Just as you assumed.

“Happy birthday,” you say as you pass her and head down the stairs. Her only response is a grateful smile.

Downstairs you see a wide assortment of costumes. They range from Batman to anime character and you see a few Disney characters. You kind of wish you went as Batman now. No matter, you didn’t want to spend the money on something you would only wear once.

Not even a minute after going down the stairs you hear the grandfather clock chime out seven times. Music starts playing softly and Remilia descends down the stairs. She looks positively in control, giving off an air of “I own you all”. Any nervousness she had is gone. All that is left is confidence. The music gets louder with each step she takes and you wonder if she is hiding a speaker on her, but then you see Sakuya in the corner with a laptop. She must be adjusting the volume.

A crowd quickly forms around the bottom of the stairs and even more people are coming in from the front door. Some people are already heading to the ballroom and others are already walking around with snack plates. It’s time to party!

-Choose one! [] Get snacks/drinks [] Mingle with the crowd, you might overhear something interesting [] Find (Pick Someone you know) ---------- >>56672Well of course I want to shake things up. But I also need to start having Alex play the part of "Hormonal Teenage Boy". I haven't really done much with that kind of stuff so I plan on trying to have him "notice" things now that he's gotten to know people.

There are plenty of people around talking amongst themselves. While normally not something you would do, listening in on their conversations is a good way to learn some of the rumors going around school. Not that you’re one to believe them, most of the time. Well, regardless of your tendency, or lack thereof, to believe rumors you find them interesting.

You sit down in a chair next to a small group of three people. They don’t even seem to notice you. “an’t believe it! Marcus got his ass kicked by a girl!”

“Oh come on! Marcus is all bark and no bite! The only reason Sanae put up with him is because she’s too scared to do anything for herself.”

“That isn’t true, she does a lot for herself. It’s just that she doesn’t like upsetting people so she doesn’t say ‘no’ to them, unless it’s really outrageous.”

“So, what about her friend Momiji?”

“What about her?”

“Oh dude, are you still trying to get with her?”

“What? Of course not! But do you think she’s single?” The guys’ two friends groan as you quietly slip away. As you do you can hear them start teasing the poor guy.

You wander around the building listening in on some groups and just overhearing bits of others. No surprises that people are talking about you and Mokou. What is surprising is that they think that Kaguya might be interested in you! You doubt it though. From what she was saying last Friday, it sounds like she supports you and Mokou. Hopefully Mokou knows better than to listen to rumors though. Things could get messy if she believed it.

A little bit later you hear another interesting rumor, this time about Medicine! Apparently she has a crush on someone. “Good for her,” you mumble to yourself. Maybe if she gets a boyfriend she’ll go to class more. You don’t hear who the guy might be, but it doesn’t matter to you. As long as he’s nice to her it’s all good.

One last thing you hear before walking into the ballroom is that a girl named “Rin” recently quit the basketball team. Leaving the position open for anyone. It sounds like there is only one team and that it’s coed. But, the reasons for “Rin” leaving are varied. Some say she had a falling out with the captain, others say that she broke up with her boyfriend on the team. Honestly, it’s entirely possible both of those are true.

You leave the ballroom door open behind you and WOW is the music loud in here! You can see quite a few familiar faces in the crowd, but none of them are really together. Hmmm, you get the feeling that if you talk to one of them now you won’t shake them easily. What do you do?

-Choose one! [] Talk to -() Medicine -() Momiji and Sanae -() Aya -() Utsuho -() Cirno -() Youmu and Yoshika [] Ignore them for now and -() Continue scrounging for rumors -() Get snacks and a drink ---------- Sorry, this one is REALLY short. I hope to make up for it tomorrow.

Also, bare in mind that the characters I listed are just the ones that you SEE in the BALLROOM. There are other characters elsewhere.

>A little bit later you hear another interesting rumor, this time about Medicine! Apparently she has a crush on someone. “Good for her,” you mumble to yourself. Maybe if she gets a boyfriend she’ll go to class more. You don’t hear who the guy might be, but it doesn’t matter to you. As long as he’s nice to her it’s all good.Poor, naive fool.

Ehem, sorry. I was going to call the vote, but there appears to be a tie.

The two which are tied are: []Momiji and Sanae []Utsuho

The next vote for either one of them takes it.

>>56734>One more day retconI wouldn't do that. You made your choice, I'll give you a nudge towards another girl but I won't say "Hey, one last chance to back out." If you screw up do not knowing the character well enough then, well, don't blame me. Though it shouldn't be too hard to stay on Mokous good side

Well, there’s no reason for you to avoid anyone right now. But you wonder who you should hang out with. You don’t really hang out with Utsuho much and now would be a good time, but at the same time you know Momiji and Sanae better. Well, there isn’t anything preventing you from hanging out with Utsuho some other time. With that in mind you start wading through the crowd of costumed partygoers towards Sanae and Momiji.

As you get closer you see Sanae wearing a blue and white version of a Japanese shrine maiden’s outfit. Momiji is wearing, well, it’s a costume at the very least. They smile, and laugh, at you when you finally reach them. Probably because you had to fight through practically an entire room of people. The only reason you noticed them in the first place is because you saw them heading over here. “Hey there!” You shout over the music. “Nice costume Sanae! Shrine maiden, right?”

“Yeah, that’s right! How did you know?” She sounds pretty surprised that you know. Of course, you wouldn’t have known if it weren’t for Renko’s obsession with anime. She would have you over just about every weekend to watch whatever new anime she “liberated” from the internet.

“I had a friend who as into anime and I just picked that bit of knowledge up from her.” You rub the back of your neck awkwardly. You aren’t embarrassed, but you don’t really go around saying you used to watch anime. Mostly because you didn’t really watch it, you just hung out with Renko and barely paid attention to the show. “So, Momiji,” you say, turning to the silver haired teen. “Nice ‘costume’.”

“Hey! It’s all I had!” She tries to defend herself, but the fact that it’s just a head band with cat ears attached to it doesn’t help.

“Still, cat ears? Why do you even have those?” If she had a whole costume to go with them, it would be one thing. But she’s just wearing a white t-shirt with a wolf picture on it and a pair of blue jeans with sneakers.

“They aren’t cat ears! They’re wolf ears!” Momiji growls. Well, they look like cat ears to you. “As for why I have them, it’s because Sanae gave them to me for my birthday last year.”

“She really likes wolves and I thought they’d look cute on her!” She claps her hands together happily. You’d agree with her, if the ears weren’t black. They just don’t match the rest of her head.

“Sanae! Don’t say things like that, it’s embarrassing!” Momiji doesn’t look embarrassed, but if she says that she is then she must be. “Anyway, weren’t we going to wish Remilia a happy birthday? I’m sure that the crowd around her has died down at this point!”

You’ve already seen Remilia and wished her a happy birthday, but at the same time you wouldn’t mind hanging out with these two a little more. Maybe you should look around some more?

While you think things over Momiji and Sanae are looking at you expectantly. You guess they want you to go with them. “Hmmm…”

-Choose one [] “I’ll go with you.” [] “I think I’ll catch up with you two later.” -() Look for another friend (Specify who) -() Get snacks and a drink before it’s too late -() Eavesdrop on for more rumors ---------- I think the updates for the party are going to be fairly short. There's a lot to cover after all. I'll try to call the vote earlier in the day so I can update sooner than 11:30 though.

“He means before someone spikes the punch, if they haven’t already,” Momiji says into the palm of her hand. The look on Sanae’s face changes form “innocent confusion” to “stark realization” before settling on “wow I must be an idiot”. Okay, that last one may not be true but you don’t really know what to call that look! “While you’re over there get us a drink too would you?” She grabs Sanae’s hand and starts trying to make it through the crowd before shouting, “Thanks, bye!”

Before you even get the chance to respond they disappear into the crowd. “How am I going to juggle three drinks plus whatever snacks I get?” You decide to not get them drinks. If they want some, they can get it themselves!

You get to the table you set up earlier and see a familiar head of orange hair standing in front of the punch bowl. Her short stature and long hair tell you that it’s Suika, but you are taken back by her outfit. She’s wearing a tiger print tube top and what is practically a loincloth of matching fabric and pattern. She has a paper bag set down next to her.

Oh god…

“Suika? What are you doing?” You ask, fearing the worst.

Startled, she spins around to face you, dropping a can of beer in the process. It’s empty, but that only reaffirms your suspicions. “Aaron! Uh, hi. Nice party isn’t it?”

“It’s Alex,” you correct her. “But that’s not what I’m concerned about.” She smiles nervously at you. “Did you really just pour beer into the punch?”

It takes you a minute to realize you’re doing your “scary face” as Renko would call it. You tend to glare and just look downright intimidating when people do something you consider wrong. Normally you’re pretty good at hiding it, but sometimes it just slips out.

“Come on Alex, it’s a party! Lighten up and have a drink!”

-Choose one [] One drink wouldn’t hurt, it is a party after all [] Give into peer pressure and have a drink [] It’s a party, and you’re confident in your ability to keep yourself in check [] Don’t be a buzzkill, have a drink [] Party or not, you are under aged and will have no part in this. -() Leave, you don’t want to get caught if things go south -() Stay and look for a friend (Specify Who) ---------- Of course I'm trying to get you to vote for something specific, but I'm not going to force you to do so. I will guarantee that nothing inherently "Bad" will come of this. In fact, something "Good" might. If you go along with it that is. But what do I know, I'm just the writer after all. It's not like I would tell the truth or anything just because I really want to write a scene that would be fun for both you and me. It's not like I'm doing it for you or anything!

Oh, and quick poll. Do you want me to continue with daily updates for "Myouren Academy"? Or should I split my attention between this and "WASTED"? It'd be easier to focus on one thing, but I don't want to just ignore one thing in favor of the other Unless it's "Seeing Red".

[x] Party or not, you are under aged and will have no part in this. -(x) Stay and look for a friend (Sakuya)

Don't want to bug Remilia with this when letting Sakuya know should be enough. Not like we have to name names anyway.

>Do you want me to continue with daily updates for "Myouren Academy"? Or should I split my attention between this and "WASTED"?Ideally I'd like to see updates alternating between stories. But, eh, whatever you think's best.

Not sure how if I can say that I tricked you, but all the "Do it" options count towards the same goal. Though I'm sure you all figured that out already. But, I'm going to call the vote now and get to writing within the next hour or so.

>>56795>>56798>>56801I thought I had Alex lampshade that. Oops... Well, he was supposed to mention that it wouldn't taste good. In fact, it seems I forgot a fair bit of what I wanted for that exchange. Curse you editing process! Oh well, I'll just add it to this next update.

You're about to drink, poorly, spiked punch and you talked to Momiji and Sanae... But you're trying to date Mokou, even though you've made no attempt to find her so far. Not to mention you earned some Remilia points for showing up early. But you've already seen Medicine without her top and that could lead to something. According to a rumor, Kaguya has a thing for Alex.

Your every instinct is telling you not to. Hell, you would normally feel appalled at the idea and have to hold back a rant on how it could destroy her life. But, you’ve been mildly curious as to how it tastes and how it feels to have a buzz. One or two drinks won’t hurt and you think you’re mature enough to know when enough is enough. The reason you got so upset with Tenshi is because she didn’t stop with getting a buzz, she got full on drunk. You soften your glare and sigh heavily. “Fine, I’ll try it.” Suika’s expression goes blank, like you’re speaking a foreign language. “But first,” you say eyeing the can laying on the floor, “why beer?”

The cavegirl chuckles sheepishly and says, “It was all I could snag from my bro.” It figures that she stole it from someone. There is no way she bought it herself, she doesn’t even look her age! “Ah well,” she pulls a can from her bag and tosses it to you, “It’ll taste better than the punch.”

You pop the top and stare at the open can. Part of you thinks you’ll come to regret this choice, but another is saying, “What could possibly go wrong?” You know those words are often followed by everything going wrong, but you take a sip anyway. First of all, it’s warm. Second, it doesn’t taste bad per say, but not good. You take a couple more sips and the taste doesn’t get better, but it’s drinkable. Suika picks up her bag and starts to walk off. “Where are you going?” You call after her.

“I’m gonna go share!” She shouts over her shoulder before rushing out the door to the hall.

You shrug and slowly drink the beer. No one pays you any mind, but that may be because they have similar drinks. The fact that you’re standing there holding a beer causes you to laugh. You aren’t sure why, but you’ve changed. Normally you would have taken one look at Suika and berated her before leaving. Now you’re drinking a beer she gave you and are acting like it’s no big deal.

Once your can is empty, you toss it in a trashcan and get a glass of punch. Just to see how bad it is though. It tastes horrible, but you drink it anyway. Still, you probably shouldn’t have any more for the rest of the night.

You decide that it’s time to look for Mokou. Hopefully two drinks won’t affect you that much and won’t show up on your breath. You breathe into your hand and try to smell any alcohol on it. Nope, can’t smell anything. But you don’t really think that works. All the same, you head out into the hallway to search for your, hopefully, girlfriend. You’re feeling good, not because of the beer you had, it’s because you tried something new and branched out.

The hall is crowded and you feel a little out of place. Most people have costumes on, some aren’t very good and others make you want to avert your eyes. You do have a costume, but you don’t think it’s very obvious since you didn’t do any makeup or anything.

You spend what feels like forever trying to find Mokou, but eventually conclude that she’s in costume and finding her wouldn’t be that easy. You sigh and slouch over as you make your way to a chair. Before you even get halfway to the chair you feel someone grab your shoulders. Your immediate reaction is to spin around and throw their hands off of you. In front of you is a familiar face, but not hair color. You know it is Mokou, but she’s dyed her hair red and is wearing a green and gold, and tight, outfit. “Mokou? Is that you?” Even though you recognize her, you still feel the need to ask.

“Of course!” She says cheerfully. “How do you like my costume?” She spins in place to emphasize her question.

You can’t help but stare a little. ”Is she wearing spandex?” You wonder as you look her up from top to bottom. It’s obvious that she isn’t well endowed, but she’s still cute. “So, who are you supposed to be?”

She looks at you like you’re some kind of monster for asking that. “I’m Phoenix, from the X-Men! You know, Jean Grey?”

“Sorry, I don’t really read comics much.”

“I don’t either, but at least I know who she is!” She crosses her arms and looks away. “At least I’m in costume!”

You silently dig out your fake teeth and put them in. “What are you talking about? I’m in costume!” You do your best to properly enunciate with those annoying teeth. Probably didn’t sound too good considering Mokou is now holding back a chuckle. “Oh, I wouldn’t drink the punch if I were you,” you warn her. “Suika poured some beer into it.”

“That was fast,” she notes. “But this is the only chance I get to drink, so I’m not really going to pa-“ She stops suddenly as she realizes just who she’s talking to.

“Don’t worry about it,” you tell her as you shrug. “I’ve already had some. It is a party after all. I just hope I don’t drink too much and wake up in bed with a stranger!”

“Well, last year Remilia and I both had a little too much to drink and we woke up together in her bed!” You try to fight the mental image, and fail horribly. “N-not like that! We were still in our costumes you pervert!” She weakly punches you in the arm. Of course you’re still envisioning the two of them in their underwear.

“So…”

-Choose one [] “Anything else you want to tell me about you and Remilia?” [] “Wanna get a drink?” [] “Want to find some of our friends?” (Specify which friend/friends) ---------- Holy FUCK! I managed to get this out today! Nothing really to say here other than my surprise.

I'm tempted to kick, scream, and cry right now. Most of you guys chose more than one option, even though I said "Choose one". I'll let it slide, again, and try to write the update. I wouldn't hold my breath though. I'm tired as hell and I feel sick, so I may do a little writing and just finish up tomorrow. It doesn't help that I'm an emotional wreck lately. I just seem to be pretty damn good at hiding it.

>>56874I'm no mind reader buddy. I have my guesses, but I won't tell you what they are. I would, however, like to know what you are having issues with. If enough people are having issues with the same thing, I may alter some things in the future. Your comments and ideas shape the story just as much as the choices that are made. I don't consider myself to be the sole "idea factory" for this. I pull from my friends and from you guys to try and write an entertaining story that everyone can enjoy.

So seriously, TALK TO ME! Find me on the IRC if you want to talk about the story or just in general. I go by Bar_Keep there so don't be shy!

“So,” you say to your blushing friend, “anything else you want to tell me about you and Remilia? Perhaps the two of you had some kind of deep dark secret tha-“

“No! I promise you, nothing happened between the two of us!” She puts her hands on her hips and glares at you.

You snap your fingers and dryly say, “Darn, here I was hoping for some juicy details. Oh well, I guess I’ll just have to use my imagination then.”

“What’s there to imagine?” She shrieks.

“I’m a healthy teenage boy who is attracted to girls and has what, as of late, seems to be an overactive imagination.” You say smiling goofily. “Put all that together and…” You trail off to let her fill in the gaps.

Mokou lowers her head and covers her eyes. “Please tell me you’re just messing with me. I don’t think I could handle this if you weren’t.”

“Of course I’m messing with you! With all the teasing you and Shou do to me, I figured a little payback was in order.” She looks up at you again and sticks her tongue out. “So, do you forgive me?”

“Hmm,” she puts a finger against her lips and goes silent for a minute. “Well, I suppose I can do that. But on one condition! We have our date on Friday!”

You have been meaning to ask her about when she wanted to go out, so this works out perfectly! “Friday it is then!” You’re actually glad that she brought it up. It tells you that she’s still interested. “So, with that to look forward to, why don’t we look for some of our friends?”

“Okay then! Lead on my sparkly vampire~!” She says with a lyrical tone to it. If you were drinking something, you have no doubt you would have spit it out.

You turn to Mokou and say, “Never speak of this ever again.” There is no doubt in your mind she was referencing what happened to you on Monday. Mokou’s only response is a hearty laugh. With that the two of you start wandering around. You are specifically looking for Momiji and Sanae because you think you should warn them of the punch. You find them sitting down on a couch next to Remilia and Sakuya. “Hey guys!” You call out to them over the crowd. Overall, the crowd has thinned in the halls, but it seems like they’ve just started to congregate outside rather than other parts of the building.

Once you actually reach them they great you with a nod, Momiji, or a wave, everyone else. “Hey Alex! I thought you were going to get us snacks?” Momiji teases. Of course you did entirely forget to get snacks for yourself.

“You were getting them food?” Mokou asks eyeing you weirdly.

“No, I was getting food for myself and they told me to get them some. I don’t have three hands so I wasn’t even going to try testing my coordination. Not to mention I got a little sidetracked by Suika spiking the punch.” If there was an award for most disinterested recap voice, you would probably get it for that performance.

“Wait, there’s alcohol here?” Sanae says looking very disappointed.

“Is that a problem?” Remilia asks.

“No, well,” Sanae hesitates, “I just promised my mom I go straight home as soon as I learned that there would be alcohol or drugs.” She bites her lip and looks a little torn.

Momiji stands up and sighs. “Well, if that’s the case, I’ll walk you home.”

“What!? No! You should stay and enjoy yourself! I can get home just fine!”

“Are you kidding me? I can’t let you walk out on your own like this! For starters, if people are drinking you know that people will be thinking that you’re going to snitch! Secondly, I just wouldn’t feel good about sending you off on your own like this!” Momiji looks and sounds adamant about walking her home.

[X] Convince Sanae to stay (What do you say?) -[x] Just stick to water or unopened cans if you can help it for now. Wait till things quieted down then take your leave. No one would claim anything else beyond that.

[X] Convince Sanae to stay (What do you say?) -[x] Just stick to water or unopened cans if you can help it for now. Wait till things quieted down then take your leave. No one would claim anything else beyond that.

[X] Convince Sanae to stay (What do you say?) -[x] Just stick to water or unopened cans if you can help it for now. Wait till things quieted down then take your leave. No one would claim anything else beyond that.

[X] Convince Sanae to stay (What do you say?) -[x] Just stick to water or unopened cans if you can help it for now. Wait till things quieted down then take your leave. No one would claim anything else beyond that.

Sanae looks uneasy and Momiji is acting more like an overprotective sister than a concerned friend. “Well, why not stick around for a little while? As people gradually get drunk or leave you can slip out and no one would notice.” You don’t really know if it’s your place to step in like this, but you’d rather them not start arguing. “Just stick to water or unopened soda until then.”

“But,” Sanae starts weakly. Only to be cut off by Remilia.

“That is likely to be the best option we will think of at the moment,” Remilia says with a passive voice and face. “Sakuya,” she addresses her maid, “Would you mind making a new bowl of punch? Do not get rid of the other bowl, it would be such a waste and you know Suika would just sabotage it again.” Sakuya nods and hurries off towards the kitchen.

“If my mom finds out, I’ll be in so much trouble,” Sanae complains.

“Well, if she gets mad at you just tell her your mean old friends were holding you hostage and forced you to have a good time!” You say jokingly. Sanae doesn’t laugh though, however there is a faint smile on her face.

“I don’t really want you getting in trouble, but if you really don’t want me walking you home then I guess this will have to do,” says Momiji with a lack of enthusiasm. “If you do get in trouble though, you can always hide out at my place for a little while. At least until your mom cools down.”

“Thanks, but hopefully it won’t come to that.”

Mokou puts her arms around Sanae and Momiji’s necks and says, “Great! Now we all get to enjoy the party together!”

“Indeed,” Remilia says as she stands up from the couch. “Honestly, as much as I enjoy throwing a party, I have to say I prefer a more private celebration with my friends.” She adjusts her dress a little and starts to walk off. “If you would like to, we should all head up to my room for a while and get away from all the noise.”

“Sounds good to me!” Mokou says loudly, much to the dismay of the two she’s holding.

Momiji works her way out of Mokou’s grapple and agrees too. “Yeah, that works. I’m not really big on crowds, especially rowdy crowds.”

“It will be easy to keep away from the beer up there too.” Sanae nods and goes to join Remilia.

The four of them are looking at you expectantly.

-Choice [] Go with them, but not before inviting a couple friends (Choose THREE from the following) -()Medicine -()Cirno -()Utsuho -()Youmu -()Yoshika -()Aya -()Kaguya -()Suika [] Go, but don’t invite anyone else [] Not yet, you still want to hang around down here for a while ---------- I kinda feel like I'm burning out... Maybe I'll take a little break once I finish the Party. Not sure yet, I just know that I want to finish this before anything else. [spoiler]I'd rather not have an unfinished party scene lying around here for god knows how long due to me being a faggot and just not updating.]/spoiler]

With the four of them waiting for your answer you think about the possible ways people might misinterpret this. First of all, you, a single boy, are going to be alone with four pretty girls. Secondly, you have had a little to drink and are slightly feeling the effects. You guess the feeling is what would be considered a buzz, it doesn’t really seem to do much other than make you feel good. Well, that is hardly the point though. You have to decide whether or not you want to be in a room with only four beautiful girls. The answer is so obvious, you feel like an idiot for having to think about it. “Sounds like a plan!” You shout as you give them a thumbs up.

“Excellent,” Remilia says happily. “I would like to keep our gathering small, but if you wish to invite a couple people then do feel free. All I ask is that you do not bring the entire party upstairs with you.”

“Okay,” you say understandingly. “Hey, Mokou, is Kaguya here?”

“Yeah, I’ll go get her!” Mokou quickly rushes off in search of her friend, nearly running into a few people in the process.

You think about who else would be fun to hang out with. “Hmm, I’ll be back in a few! I’m gonna try and find a couple people real quick!”

“We will meet you up in my room then. I look forward to seeing who you bring with you.” Remilia, Momiji, and Sanae all head up the stairs. Once they are out of sight you head back to the last place you saw Medicine and Youmu, the ballroom.

The crowd is starting to settle into large groups. Some people are intent on drinking, others making out, and some are dancing. You doubt either of the two you’re looking for would be doing any of those, but you never know.

…

Now that you think about it, you don’t know if they were warned of the punch. The taste would be a surefire way to know, but their taste buds could be messed up for all you know. Okay, that is just a stupid idea. You try your best to not consider such ridiculous things while you look around.

You find Medicine near the punch. There is a sign in front of it that labels it as alcoholic, Sakuya must have put it there before going to make the new bowl. She is wearing a pink nurse uniform. “Hey Medi!” You call out to her, using the nickname of her nickname. She must not have noticed you seeing as how she jumps almost five feet into the air. Well, not really, but she might as well have. Stepping right in front of her you take in the whole costume. Light pink stockings and shoes, the uniform itself is darker, and her little hat has a red cross on it. She even has a stethoscope hanging around her neck.

“Alex? Don’t scare me like that!” She’s pouting.

“Sorry, sorry!” You hold your hands out in a gesture of peace. “I didn’t mean to startle you, I thought you saw me walk up.”

“I-I was distracted,” she breaks eye contact and shuffles in place awkwardly. “So, uh, what did you want?”

You almost tease her about her crush, but decide that it wouldn’t be very nice of you. Instead you just get to the point. “I’m going upstairs to hang out with some friends. Just to talk, maybe play a game or two, but mostly just to hang out. You want to come with?”

Her face lights up almost instantly as she agrees. “Sure! I’d love to!”

“Great! I want to find someone else too, so we’ll head up in a minute.” She nods and starts following you around as you look for Youmu.

Youmu proves to be illusive, you can’t seem to find her anywhere in the ballroom. Rather than spend an eternity looking in a room you’ve already searched you decide to check the halls. And sure enough, she’s there in the hall as soon as you exit the room. She’s wearing a green and white variation of a gothic Lolita maid outfit. The only reason you know that is because of the anime Renko made you watch with her. Funny how some of that is proving to be helpful now.

Luckily she sees you and is the one to speak first. At least you aren’t scaring her like you did Medicine. “Hey Alex! Having fun?”

“You know it!” You respond enthusiastically. “Hey, some of us are heading upstairs to get away from all the noise down here, want to join us?”

“Who’s up there?”

“Remilia, Sanae, and Momiji are already up there. Mokou was getting Kaguya and I was looking for you and Medicine.” Medicine waves meekly at the gothic maid. “So, what do you say?”

“Sure, why not? Most of my friends either left or are getting drunk.”

With that you lead the two upwards to Remilia’s room. Inside, everyone else is already waiting for you. They are all sitting in a circle in front of Remilia’s king sized bed. Honestly, you didn’t take that good of a look around the room when you were in here earlier. It’s surprisingly plain. White walls, the bed has one of those curtains around it, she has a full body mirror and a large vanity next to it. Her closet is on the opposite side of the room from the mirror and the windows are on either side of the bed.

“Hey there Alex!” Kaguya greets you excitedly. She sure isn’t in costume. Not unless a pink t-shirt and blue jeans count as a costume.

You, Youmu, and Medicine all take a seat next to everyone else and you see there’s a large bottle of wine in the center with eight glasses around it. “I hope you all do not mind if I have a drink,” Remilia says calmly. “If you wish, then feel free to have one yourself.”

A couple people murmur something, but the only decline comes from Sanae. “So,” Mokou says suddenly. “Anyone want to play ‘Never Have I Ever’?

“Nah,” Kaguya groans. “How about ‘Truth or Dare’?”

“No way! You always want to make people do something embarrassing in that!”

For the next couple of minutes you have to listen to them argue over what game to play. Eventually the only two who haven’t voiced their opinions are you and Medicine. Of course, the vote is tied for both games and Medicine says she is fine with whatever. So it’s up to you to decide.

-Choose One [] “Never Have I Ever” [] “Truth or Dare” [] Write-in (Explain the rules to me just in case) --ALSO [] Partake in the wine [] Don't have anymore ---------- "Never Have I Ever" is a drinking game where you say something you have never done and everyone who HAS done it must take a sip. "Truth or Dare" should be self explanatory.

“Why don’t we do ‘truth or dare’?” You ask. If you did “Never have I Ever” you would probably wind up letting them know some things you would rather not have known. “Let’s just try not making each other do anything too embarrassing. Okay?”

“I make no promises,” Kaguya teases. “Who knows how much wine I’ll have before the nights over?”

Mokou groans, “Kaguya, please, you’ll have two glasses and be out like a light. You just can’t handle it.” Kaguya glares at her while everyone else laughs, though Sanae’s is more nervous than light hearted.

Remilia pulls the cork out of the wine bottle and pours herself a glass before asking, “Who else would like a glass?” Mokou, Kaguya, and Momiji all raise their hands and Youmu joins them hesitantly. Sanae just shakes her head. When Remilia looks to you, you just nod. After pouring glasses for the four of you she looks at Medicine. “What about you? Would you like any?”

Medicine shifts around awkwardly and looks at you, who is now holding a glass of red wine. “S-sure.” She’s obviously nervous about this. You can’t say you are completely fine with it, but you’re willing to let loose a little.

The white haired teen thinks for a moment before saying, “Truth. What do you want to know?”

“Why did you keep turning people down to the dance?” Momiji was turning people down? That’s news to you!

“Easy,” she declares, “I wasn’t interested in any of them!” She grins and looks around at the group as Kaguya nods. “Medicine!” The costumed nurse jumps as Momiji points a finger and shouts her name. “Truth or dare!?”

“D-dare?” She looks positively terrified right now. Poor girl.

“I dare you to do the chicken dance!” What? That was not something you expected! Apparently Medicine wasn’t expecting it either seeing as how she looks just as surprised as you do. Still, she gets up and does it while Momiji hums the song. The rest of you just watch while sipping your wine. It’s better than the beer Suika gave you, and by far better than the spiked punch. After a bit Momiji stops humming and tells her to stop, “All right, that’s enough. So, who’re you picking on?”

Sighing in relief, Medicine sits back down next to you. “Hmm, how about,” her eyes dart around those of you who haven’t been picked, but settle on Remilia. “Truth or dare?” Just to make it clear as to who she’s talking to, she points at your hostess.

“Truth. I have nothing to hide.” She declares boldly, flashing a confident smile in the process.

“Are you interested in anybody in particular?” A bold question.

Which receives a bold answer. “There are a few people I may be interested in, but that is hardly a concern of mine at the moment. My studies are more important, but if I could find the right guy I would not complain.” Not even the slightest hint of a blush, she’s either rehearsed that line a lot, or she’s just not embarrassed. “Now the, Alex,” the attention is quickly focused on you. “Truth or dare?”

“Ah why not, truth,” you say reluctantly. You’re a little worried about the dares, but the truth might be as bad in some cases.

“How far did you ever go with Tenshi?” She asks all too eagerly.

“H-how far? Wha-what do you mean?” You know what she means, but you really hope she doesn’t mean that.

She chuckles as everyone is staring with wide eyes. “I mean, did you limit yourselves to kissing, or did you go farther and just how far did you go?”

With Mokou staring at you intently and the others glancing between you, Remilia, and Mokou, you can’t really see a way out. So, you down the rest of your glass and say quickly. “Second base. Once.”

The general reaction seems to be a loud, “WHAT!?” They obviously were not expecting that! Then again, you weren’t expecting the question. While they try to wrap their heads around what you just said, you fill your glass back up. You’re probably going to want more by the end of the night.

“Anyway,” you get everyone’s attention again. “Mokou, truth or dare?”

Still stunned she quietly says, “Dare.” She doesn’t seem upset, just surprised. It wouldn’t really make sense for her to be upset anyway, it happened before you even met her.

“Okay, I dare you to,” well, you lost what you wanted her to do. “Damn, I forgot what I was going to have you do! Oh well, just do twenty pushups then.” You were going to make her do something funny, but you just can’t remember what it was!”

She grumbles as she does it, but she doesn’t seem to have much upper body strength. Everyone is laughing at her as they drink and somewhere down the line most people get their second drink.

**********

After a couple hours Sanae disappeared, but no one tried to stop her. Most of you had too many drinks to even try and walk her downstairs. As the wine bottles emptied, Sakuya brought in replacements. At this point there has to be at least five lying around. You’d count them if you were able to focus. It’s just that everything seems so interesting right now…

**********

“We’re out,” Remilia slurs. “Probly for the besht.”

Sakuya had stopped bringing in more wine and you feel great! And horrible! Great because you just find every little thing funny and exciting. Horrible because you feel sick. Oh well! The others sound like they’re in a similar state as you. It’s hard to tell when you got like this, but you do know Kaguya was the first.

**********

-Choose ONE [] Red [] Orange [] Yellow [] Green [] Blue [] Indigo [] Violet ---------- I could tell you what's up with the colors, but that would take all the fun out of it! It shouldn't be too hard to figure out.

I'll let you know right now, that this update and the next one will not negatively impact any of your relationships.

“Ugh,” you groan as you open your eyes, only to shut them tight once more. You repeat this process a few times as your eyes adjust to the light. Once you’re able to keep them open without them being blinded you massage your temples. “My head is killing me,” you groan. It feels like it’s going to explode right now. “How much did I drink last night?” You vaguely remember seeing five or six bottle of wine scattered around the floor.

You sit up and let the blanket fall off of you. Wait, blanket? When did that happen? WHEN DID YOU GET IN A BED!?

Oh, wait…

You kind of remember walking to the guest room your clothes were in with, uh, someone. Who was it you were with and where is she? That doesn’t really matter right now, what does matter is the fact that it’s almost six. According to the wall clock that is.

You throw the blanket off of you and revealing that you are only in your boxers. “Where are my pa-“ You stop suddenly as you see a head of blonde hair sticking out from under the blanket. The head is in just the right position for it to have been against your chest. The one in question is obviously Medicine, but what the hell is she doing in bed with you? WHY ARE YOU NEARLY NAKED WITH HER IN BED WITH YOU?! “Oh, god! What did we do last night?”

In your panic, you wrack your brain in an attempt to figure out just what transpired last night. You remember playing truth or dare, drinking wine, and being the target of a few embarrassing dares. Images of you taking your shirt off and daring Momiji to kiss Youmu fill your mind. You hang on to that second image a little longer than the other. Kaguya passed out and you think someone drew on her face with a marker, but you don’t know if that really happened. You remember being dared to kiss Mokou, but you aren’t sure if you went through with it. You hope that you didn’t because you want to actually remember your first kiss with her.

Remembering most of that is nice, but there’s still a large hole in your memory of last night. Trying to remember only causes your head to hurt even more. You stand up and promptly lose your balance in a wave of nausea, introducing your face to the floor. You have no doubt anyone who is awake heard the crash, and your not so manly scream. Great, you are now fighting back dizziness, vomiting, the urge to put a bullet in your head to end the pain, and the need to get home before your aunt wakes up.

“Mmm?” Medicine makes a noise, causing your heart to sink into your stomach. Her being asleep was your only saving grace right now. You pray that she isn’t actually waking up. She’s quiet for a minute and you start feeling relieved. But the relief is short lived as you hear the blanket move and the bed creak as she sits up. You haven’t gotten up from the ground yet, and in this position you can’t really tell how dressed she is right now.

You know staying there won’t improve the situation, so you slowly get into a sitting position. From here you can see that she is wearing your shirt and pants! They are far too big for her, but that isn’t the major issue here! The issue is she’s wearing your clothes and you are left in your boxers! She sees your head pop up and stares at you in surprise. “Uh,” you don’t know what would be the right thing to say in this situation. “Morning?”

“M-morning,” she says groggily, and with a hint of shock. “Why are you on the floor?”

You have no idea what is going through her mind right now. Seeing as how she just woke up, you don’t think she’s registered what transpired last night as being real.

-How do you treat the situation? [] Write-in! ---------- Okay, so are you prepared for awkwardness? I hope so!

[spoiler]If you want to know which colors were who, just ask.[/spoiler[

>>57020>>57023I'll be honest, I have absolutely no idea what you guys mean by this. Granted, I think I may be sick and am having trouble forming coherent thoughts, but I would like you to clarify what you want out of this.

To put into words what I, as a reader, want out of this kinda takes the fun out of things, but If you must know; I would say the textbook "startled realization", followed by "cute embarrassment" and finally concluding with "mutual non-disclosure agreement" will suffice for starters, and maybe some "casual teasing" thrown in if you're feeling particularly gutsy.

Also, on a more personal level, I felt the strong desire to abuse the "will not negatively impact any of your relationships" free pass we get for this update.

Hey, just making sure that whatever girl ends up with Alex doesn't feel like she needs to restrain herself and love only one man as opposed to anyone she wants (so long as it falls under pre-agreed guidelines set between herself and Alex: trust is important after all).

Medicine asks you again, shaking you out of your thoughts. “Alex, what’s going on? What happened last night? And why are you on the floor?” She sounds so sleepy right now. She rubs at her eyes absentmindedly and slides off the foot of the bed. She wobbles in place before falling back onto the bed.

“Well,” you say, “I’m down here because of a spectacularly bad hangover. I tried to stand up, and just couldn’t keep myself up.” Now that she’s off the blanket entirely you grab it and quickly wrap it around you. “So, do you happen to know why you’re wearing my clothes?” There is no point beating around the bush, she’ll notice eventually.

“Wha?” She holds her hands out and the sleeves dangle out past her fingers. She turns to you looking extremely confused and worried. The buttons on the shirt are done haphazardly and a few aren’t even buttoned. “Oh god, what did we do?!” Ouch, that hurt your ears, and makes your headache feel even worse. “D-did we… You know?”

You shake your head softly. “I, I don’t think so.” You don’t remember anything like that and your boxers are clean, but you aren’t telling her that little detail. It’s a little more than she needs to know. “I think you just took my clothes at some point during truth or dare and we fell asleep together.”

If there was a world record for a face turning red, she would have just broken it. “We sle-slept together? Like, in the same bed together? Under the same blanket? With very little separating us? And we were drunk?” You think her mind just burnt out.

“Hey, it’s okay! We didn’t do anything and no one has to know!” Okay, you’re mostly just trying to get her to not freak out, but that’s much harder when you’re trying not to yourself. “I promise, everything is fine!” You stand up with the blanket around you like a robe and look for the clothes you wore on your way here yesterday, they also happen to be your uniform so you don’t have to go home and change. If you’re right, you can just borrow books from people during the day and get home with your aunt none the wiser about what happened.

“B-b-b-b-but,” she stutters as she stares at you with teary eyes.

“No ‘buts’!” You declare as you squat down to get your clothes that are lying in a pile in the corner. “If we did, we will deal with the consequences! But I really don’t think we did. I mean, just look at the bed. The sheets don’t look too messed up, which helps with my assumption.” Well, to be fair, people aren’t limited to just the bed. “Now, did you bring a change of clothes?” She shakes her head. Great! She either needs to walk home in her costume, which is probably bad, or in your clothes, which is just as bad.

-Choose one! [] Let her borrow your clothes. You’ll pick them up at lunch. [] Find her costume, she can walk home in that. [] Write-in (Can you think of something better?) ---------- >>57035Technically, yes. It depends on the character/characters. There are a couple characters who's routes start similar to that.

>>57038>wanna betYes, actually. I do want to bet. You are fighting me, the writer, and I can pull multiple tricks/plot devices/tropes/DRAMA out my ass at a moments notice. So, by all means, try. Try as much as you want.

>>57042I"m not against anyone. I'm against harems for this story. I love harems, it's fun drama but it's not right for this story.

>>57052I know, I voice my opinion/preferences too much. I can totally stop if you want, even if it shows in story. I'm probably going to take a break for a while after the next update. I'm not sure if you've noticed, but I'm feeling burnt out. I need to recharge and try to renew my passion for this story. Writing it for more than a month kinda dried me out.

I will continue this, I just need to slow down. Judging by the slow down of votes I will assume that you all feel the same. Perhaps I will slow down to weeklies with possibly more. If I get another vote soon, I may write an update. But for now, I bid you a good night!

For those concerned, I am still alive sorta and I will try to update soon. In the meantime just wait warmly.

Oh, I was going to try and write an /at/ scene for Medicine, but I decided that can wait a little while because I can't write porn. If anyone one wants to give it a shot feel free, just consult me on the IRC first. I probably won't get any offers, but I want to at least give you creative folks an option to do it.

“Okay,” you say to her after some internal debate. “About how far from here do you live?” She’s got to go home and get her uniform after all.

“Uh, maybe twenty minutes away?” During the time it took you to think of a plan, Medicine has collected her costume and, with her back turned to you, fixed the buttons of her, or rather your, shirt. She’s tightened the belt as much as she can, but it just barely holds the pants in place. That doesn’t help the issue of them being too long though. You’d complain that she’s still wearing you clothes, but you’re just going to be glad that she isn’t on the verge of tears anymore. “I think I can make it home and to school in time, if I hurry.”

“Well, how about I walk you home?” You feel the need to offer, seeing as how you don’t really want her walking back home hung-over. At least not alone. If her parents have questions she might cave and tell them everything, which would get back to your aunt and would result in you getting in a lot of trouble. So, this is as much to make sure she gets home safely as it is to cover your own skin. Speaking of which, you still need to actually get dressed. Aside from her turning around to button her shirt, she’s been looking at you. You can’t really tell what she’s thinking. She doesn’t look cautious, or worried. Sad? No, that isn’t right. Well, whatever is going on in her head you don’t think it’s anything bad.

Her expression quickly changes to surprise though as she starts to comprehend your question. “WHAT!?” Oh god your ears and head! She seems to have a similar reaction to her own shout as she quickly grasps her own head in pain. In a much quieter voice asks, “W-why?”

“For starters? You’re wearing my clothes and I would very much like them back. Second, is it wrong for me to want to walk a friend home after a night of drinking?” You have no idea if this is what people who drink do, but you doubt she would know either. “Also, I just want to talk a little.” You want to compare what you remember from last night with what she does, maybe make sense of how you came to be in the same bed together.

“Uh, w-well, I guess that’s okay. My parents have probably left for work already, so it shouldn’t be a problem.” She rolls up the pant legs so that they don’t drag on the floor and she doesn’t step on them. “Um, do you mind if I wear these to my place?”

“Will you be comfortable walking in them?” The clothes barely manage to stay on her, but if she’s fine then it’s okay with you. She nods slightly so you sigh, “I guess it’s okay then.” You look around awkwardly before asking, “Could you look away for a minute please? I, uh, need to get dressed.” Her eyes widen for a moment, and as her face reddens she spins on her heels. She wobbles in place for a moment causing you to chuckle. Moving quickly, you get dressed and make sure your wallet is still in the back pocket. Assured that nothing is missing out of it you let Medicine know you’re ready. “Okay, I’m decent now.” When she turns around you add, “So, we should probably get moving now.”

With that, the two of you make your way out of the room and down the stairs. From the looks of things, almost everybody seems to have gone home already. Part of you wants to check in on Remilia, but it might be best to let her sleep. Regardless, you let Medicine lead the way down the street as the two of you talk about last night.

She remembers the same things as you, and a little more. Apparently you chickened out of kissing Mokou, Kaguya passed out on her shortly after that, and Momiji wound up kissing everyone who was still awake. “I’m not sure if Momiji goes both ways, or if she was just that drunk,” you blurt out as you laugh.

Medicine blushes and says, “Well, she is a good kisser…”

You look at her incredulously, “What? No, never mind.” She looks at you awkwardly but doesn’t say anything. “Sorry, that just caught me off guard, that’s all.”

“Well, she is. Doesn’t mean anything,” she grumbles defensively.

“Didn’t say it did.” Conversation dries up for a bit as you arrive at her house. From the outside, it looks pretty similar to yours, and inside isn’t much different. The room layout is almost exactly the same, and the carpet and walls are different colors too.

For some reason you follow her upstairs. You stop outside her door when she says, “Uh, could you give me a minute please?”

Feeling rather embarrassed you nod and say, “Yeah, sure.” She closes the door and you can hear her opening a closet and shortly after a dresser drawer. While you wait you call to her and say, “Hey, Medi, sorry about what I said a bit ago. I didn’t mean to imply that you were, uh…” Your though just dies there, feeling like a fool for even bringing it back up.

“Don’t worry about it!” She calls back cheerily. “I mean, I did kinda set myself up there. As long as you don’t go telling anyone I said that then I can forgive you.”

“Sounds fair enough to me.” As you say that she opens the door and hands you a bag with your clothes in it. “Thanks, and speaking of not telling anyone, not a word of waking up together to anyone, okay?”

“I didn’t plan on telling anyone in the first place.” The two of you walk downstairs and you try to suppress a yawn, but fail miserably and it sounds like a dying animal. Not even hiding her amusement Medicine says, “What in the world was that?”

Ignoring her laughing you grumble, “I’m tired, okay? I wish I had time to have some coffee.”

“Coffee’s bad for you, you know.”

“How can something so good be bad for you?” You ask jokingly.

Unfortunately the humor appears lost on her as she spends the entire walk to school explain the dangers of caffeine and coffee. You tune most of it out and simply pretend you’re listening.

You arrive at the school around the same time everyone else is slinking in. A good chunk of them look half dead, the rest of them probably weren’t at the party. There is one person who doesn’t seem to be moving much though, like they’re waiting for someone. Chances are they’re waiting for you…

SO! It's NaNoWriMo Time, and that means DAILY UPDATES FOR AS LONG AS I CAN HANDLE IT! So, between work and school, I give myself a week tops, I mean, I'll go all the way! ---------- You and Medicine slowly walk towards Remilia, who is watching the two of you with a smile, but not exactly a happy one. “Hello Alex,” she greets you.

“Morning,” you say with a polite nod. “I take it you’re not feeling well?”

“Not in the slightest,” she sighs and pinches the bridge of her nose. “I would love nothing more to say that I will never drink again, but I know that the next time I have a party I will be regretting it the next morning.” She chuckles a little before turning to Medicine, “I hope you enjoyed yourself last night. You looked so nervous when we were in my room.” You feel as though most other guys would make some kind of joke about that, but you just look at Medicine to see her reaction.

Which is fairly tame, for her. She looks a little embarrassed, but isn’t trying to shrink away. “I had a lot of fun. I was just nervous about you guys not liking me…”

“Why would we not like you? You are a friend of Alex’s after all.” Remilia says it like you are the best judge of character around.

“Well, it’s just, you’re really popular. I just had it in my head that popular people were mean, snobby, jerks.”

You shrug, “Not all popular kids are. Though, I couldn’t really say that back in my old school.”

“You weren’t popular?” Medicine asks in what almost sounds like disbelief.

“Nope, not at all,” you reply. “Well, pretty much everybody knew who I was, but they didn’t really care. I was just kind of there.”

“And then you move here and you suddenly make friends with a bunch of lovely ladies,” Remilia adds with smile of both self-confidence and flirtatiousness. “Of course, it does not hurt that your aunt is the principle. That likely earned some respect.”

“Ha, yeah, I wonder how it would be if she wasn’t the principle?”

Remilia and Medicine look thoughtful for a second before saying at the same time, “It would be pretty much the same.”

“What makes you say that?” You ask bemused.

“You’re really nice,” Medicine says.

Remilia adds, “You are understanding.”

“And you’re smart,” Medicine finishes.

After a second you say, “Well, I’d argue with that last one, but oh well. It’s nice that you two think of me like that.”

The three of you slowly begin walking into the school. “So, I take it we are never going to speak of what happened last night while we were all drinking?” Remilia asks, as if there was another answer other than,

“Right.” You and Medicine say.

“What ever happened or was said can stay in our drunken stupor.” You say with a laugh.

Remilia nods and says, “Agreed.”

Before long Medicine quickly says her goodbyes as she heads to her homeroom, or the nurses office, you honestly aren’t sure where she’s going. And soon after she leaves Remilia ducks into a bathroom, leaving you walking to homeroom alone. When you get there however, you see quite a few familiar faces.

>What do you do?[] Talk to… () Mokou () Aya () Shou () Parsee/Yamame () Rinnosuke () Mima [] Take this brief moment to get some more rest, you need it. [] Other (I don’t really know what else you would do, but here you go.)

Feeling unsteady on your feet due to both the hangover and the lack of coffee you make your way over to your seat. “Hi there Mokou,” you greet the, surprisingly, bright looking teen. It seems all the Halloween spirits took pity on her. Or she’s just far more tolerant of them than you are.

“Good morning Alex!” She says pretty cheerfully for someone who was passed out drunk not even a few hours ago. “So, how’d you sleep?”

While you’re tempted to respond with something sarcastic that alludes to waking up with Medi, your rationale gets the better of you. “I slept fine, except the massive headache. Still there a little bit, but it’s getting better.”

“I figured. You seemed like you had more to drink than I did.” She smiles teasingly, “I’m surprised that was your first time.”

“Hey, I’m full of surprises.” You shoot back.

Her smile grows ever so slightly as she says, “I know.”

And then you realize the innuendo. “Dammit…”

With that, Mokou just bursts out laughing as you try to find some way to get back at her for that.

After a minute her laughter gives way to giggles as she asks, “So, what are our plans for tomorrow?”

Oh right, you agreed that you would have your date tomorrow in exchange for teasing her yesterday. CRAP!

MAKE PLANS NOW! [] Cheap Dinner and go out to a movie [] “Expensive” Dinner and rent a movie [] Rent a bunch of movies and have a movie marathon (What genre?) [] Keep it simple, and walk around town, window shop, and then go to dinner. ---------- Short update is short because I am tired and need to get up for work in a few hours anyway.

The purpose of this update was partly to remind you that you have a date with Mokou tomorrow and partly because I wanted to have Mokou sort of be forceful about going on the date.

Calling the vote now, and I'll get to work on it in the morning. As long as I have it out by 4pm (my time) I should be good. If not, well, I get out at 830 so I'll still have time before midnight to update.

I would also like to say, you guys are great. I'm gone for months and you guys seem to welcome me back with no problem, a few of you seem happy that I'm writing again too. I just thought I'd let you all know I appreciate that.

After a moment of hesitation you quickly say, “I was thinking we would walk around town, do some window shopping and get some dinner afterwards.”

Mokou smiles and nods, “Sounds good to me. Did you want to go into town right after school?”

“Maybe an hour after. Gives us some time to change and unwind from the day.”

“Okay! Sounds like a plan to me.”

Shortly after the bell for homeroom rings and your teacher is oddly absent. No substitute either. No one seems to care either, so homeroom passes quickly, with you talking to Mokou about an upcoming history quiz, which was supposed to be a surprise but she saw her mom’s lesson plan lying on the dining room table when she went home this morning. You go over the dates that might be on the quiz as well as some minor details that might be thrown in.

When homeroom ends you and Mokou head over to your history class. “Good morning Mokou, hello again Alex,” Remilia greets the two of you as you enter the room.

“Morning Remilia,” Mokou smiles with her greeting.

“Hello again,” you say back.

The three of you take your seats and you let the two girls talk as you stare absentmindedly out the window.

The pop quiz comes as a surprise to most of the students, and it couldn’t have come on a worse day too. Most of them are probably still feeling the effects of last night. Luckily, you had some warning ahead of time so you’re feeling confident about it.

After the quiz is another documentary. You aren’t quite sure if you’re awake enough to pay attention, but it wouldn’t look good to sleep through it either…

-Choose One [] Stay awake, this could be on a pop quiz later. [] Sleep, you had a strange morning, long night, and just aren’t in the mood for a boring video. [] Find some way to excuse yourself from the room (Write in your suggestions) [] Stay awake, but ignore the video by doing (blank) ---------- Ah, good old documentaries. That takes me back to my high school days. I hated those days... Anyway, nostalgia aside, not really much to say here other than thanks for reading!

Screw it. You are far too tired for a documentary. You lay your head on your desk and quickly fall asleep without any trouble. As you drift off you hear the video start with a generic and dull voice of an older man.

After what feels like far too short of a period of time, you are woken up by Mokou shaking your shoulders gently. “Mmmmrg?” Is the only noise you can muster as you rub your eyes.

“Class is over sleepyhead.” She tells you as she drops your backpack onto the desk where your head was mere moments ago. “I’ll talk to you later, okay?”

“Yeah, sure, later,” you mumble as you stand and stretch.

You’re the last one to leave the room, and the last one to arrive at chemistry class, where Youmu is surprisingly absent. And of course today is a group project, and as Ms. Knowledge points out, your group is your tablemate. So, you spend all of the class attempting to work on something that would take two people to finish. Luckily, you aren’t being penalized for not finishing.

In Home Economics, everyone has to create a small “menu” consisting of two breakfasts, two lunches, two dinners, and two desserts. You will be making them in class for the next few days, and as such shouldn’t take more than fifty minutes to make. Ms. Nagae had said no one can work in groups, but did say that you may compare menu items with others to decide what you want to do.

When you arrive at your English class you see Satori scribbling what looks to be random lines on a piece of paper, Rinnosuke is actually reading the assigned reading, Mokou and Shou haven’t arrived yet, and Lily is drinking what you can only hope is hot chocolate. You don’t really want to envision her after drinking coffee.

-What do you do? [] Talk to Satori [] Talk to Rinnosuke [] Reread the assigned passages --------- Well, another update, another day. Is November over yet? I kid of course, but yeah, my sleep schedule is all sorts of fucked already. Oh well, the price I pay for wanting to write, am I write?

Deciding to leave Rinnosuke to his reading, you take your seat and turn towards Satori, who has since folded up her piece of paper into a small triangle. “Hey Satori, how’s it going?”

She jumps slightly, barely even noticeable to anyone not paying attention, but it still amuses you a little. “Oh, hello Alex. I didn’t even realize you were there.” She sighs and tucks the folded paper into her purse. “I’m a little, distracted, today.”

“I noticed. Want to talk about it?”

Satori runs a hand through her stylishly messy hair and says, “One of my friends is being weird, or rather, weirder than normal. And my sister is being, well, her usual self. Which is to say, a massive pain in the neck.”

“Younger sister?” You ask, to which she nods affirmatively. “Figures, from what I see, it’s the younger siblings job to annoy the older ones.”

Chuckling, Satori responds, “If she were being paid to annoy me, we would be far better off than we are.” There’s a slight pause in the conversation before she asks, “You are an only child, right?”

“Yup. Why?”

“No particular reason. I was just wondering how it feels to suddenly be living with someone else your age and not be related to them.”

You think for a moment before answering, “Well, the house is pretty big for just two people, so I think Shou is grateful for me being there, even if the reason why I’m there isn’t exactly the best. As for me? I’m glad she’s there. She’s a good friend and she’s there for me if I need someone to talk to.”

“It didn’t feel strange to move in and find that your aunt was taking care of another?”

“Well, if I’m being honest, it was a little strange to me. But I remember my mom telling me that’s just how she is. She’d probably adopt all the homeless kids in the world if she could.” The two of you laugh a little before you continue, “She did adopt a young girl just recently too.”

“I heard about that. My sister is in the same class as her.”

“Oh? Are the two of them friends?”

Satori somehow manages to both smile and frown at the same time as she says, “I wouldn’t say ‘friends’, but they do get along. Even if my sister can be a little, forceful, in her playing around.” Sensing you have a question, Satori quickly adds, “Koishi is very manipulative for her age. She likes to get people to do things for her and come up with ways to make them think it was their idea.”

“Sounds like she’ll be a handful when she gets into high school.” You say in awe. A kid that’s able to manipulate people like that should definitely be kept an eye on. “I take it she doesn’t get to you like that?”

“Not as often as she would like. And she knows better than to try on our parents.” There’s another pause, as if she isn’t sure that she wants to continue or not. Ultimately she does, “Though, the past couple weeks have been hard on her. Our parents are, uh, having difficulties to say the least and she doesn’t understand what’s going on. So she’s been crying out for attention by misbehaving. My parents blame each other for her acting up.” She quickly looks away and mumbles, “Sorry, that was a little too much.”

You can see her face is starting to redden and her voice trembles a little. Given what she’s said you pretty much know what’s going on, you saw it too many times back at your old school…

After an awkward pause of Satori regaining her composure and you trying to figure out how to respond, you say, "Just remember I'll be there for you, no matter what happens. If you need a shoulder to cry on, or even just someone to talk you, I'll be there." It admittedly sounds kind of sappy and cliché, but still it makes her smile.

“Thank you.” She whispers. “If I ever need to talk to someone about this, I’ll let you know.”

“I’m glad to help.” The late bell rings shortly after you say that and you notice Shou and Mokou make it by mere seconds.

Class consists of a quiz and an essay on the assigned reading. You feel confident about the quiz, but your essay could probably use some work. Too bad you only glossed over the reading. Oh well, you’ll do better next time.

The bell rings before you know it and you sigh as you stare at your desk wondering who to sit with at lunch.

-Choose (like I even need to ask…) [] Mokou [] Shou [] Medicine [] Rinnosuke ---------- This update is was rushed and I will not try to hide that fact. Stupid work...

It doesn’t take you long to decide that you want to sit with Mokou and her friends, so you quickly leave the room and catch up with Mokou in the hallway. “Hey Mokou, mind if I sit with you?”

“Of course I don’t!” She replies happily. “Just so you know, I told Kaguya and Reisen about our date tomorrow. So, they might have something to say about it.” She laughs nervously for a second before adding, “I, uh, hope you don’t mind.”

“As long as they don’t start making things awkward, I don’t have a problem with it.” Of course, this is high school, they are going to make it awkward.

…

Not even five minutes from when you are hiding your face in the palm of your hand just like Mokou.

“So, Alex, I expect you take good care of Mokou and be a perfect gentlemen tomorrow,” Kaguya says with a completely straight face. “Make sure you have her home before dark and don’t take her to any weird places~.”

“Kaguya, please, just please,” is all Mokou can say in her effective stupor.

Reisen is shaking her head as she pushes a carrot back and forth on her tray when she says, “Come on Kaguya, that’s enough. Don’t tease them too much.”

“Oh fine,” Kaguya sighs.

“So, anything interesting happen to either of you today or was teasing us the highlight of your day?” You ask before taking a sip of your juice.

“Well, Reisen was asked out earlier,” Kaguya says smiling at her sister.

“And I turned him down,” Reisen adds quickly as she impales the carrot on her fork, glaring at Kaguya. “Guys a creep. Been following me in the halls, staring at me in class, barely says anything, he even waits for me outside of my classes sometimes!”

You and Mokou exchange disturbed glances and you say, “Need someone to talk to him?”

“Oh, I wouldn’t worry about that,” Kaguya answers for her. “She laid into him! You should have been there! She called him out on how creepy he’s been, how he’s been making her uncomfortable and that if he doesn’t stop she’ll kick his ass!”

Reisen’s eyes go wide for a moment, “I didn’t say that!”

“You might as well have! The idiot bolted the other way when you were done with your rant!”

“Reisen, I’m glad you stood up for yourself, but be a little more careful next time,” says Mokou worriedly. “Some guys might get, uh, aggressive, if you do something like that.”

“I know, but I just didn’t like the way he was following me, or the way he was looking at me.” Reisen is quiet for a moment and then takes a loud bite out of her carrot, still with the fork sticking out of it.

…

At the end of lunch you feel remarkably hungry, considering Reisen wound up splitting half of her food between you and Kaguya. It doesn’t help that you didn’t eat breakfast either, but even knowing that you still complain.

When you arrive at study hall, you find that there is still no Mima and no substitute. This is more than a little unnerving now…

-Choose one [] Go to the office and let someone know [] Stay there and enjoy the peace and quite [] Skip class, not like anyone will notice (Go where?) ---------- Well now, I managed to get through the first week. I'm actually surprised by that! I guess that means I can't just give up now does it? Damn... I mean, uh, I'll give it all I've got! Or something...

You decide that you aren’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth and just sit at your desk, relishing the current silence. You know it won’t last long, especially when other students start flocking in, but it’s nice right now. It gives you a chance to think, a chance to relax.

And then the peace is gone…

“Hi Alex!” Says a flash of long brownish black hair as it rushes by you.

“Okuu, slow down! I can’t keep up with you!” Shouts a blue blur.

“So much for peace…” You sigh as you slide down in your chair, nearly laying down and eyes level with the desk.

Utsuho runs around the room a few times before sitting down at the desk next to you and in front of Cirno. “Utsuho’s had a lot of energy since she got her cast off,” Cirno explains, not that it needed explaining, she been running around a lot lately. She’s nearly run into you a few times too.

“I hadn’t noticed,” you say dryly.

“Well it’s a good thing I told you then!” Cirno puffs out her chest as if she won a medal. Cirno knows you were being sarcastic, but Utsuho doesn’t so she plays along so she doesn’t get confused. “So, what’d you do last night after the party?” She asks bluntly. “I noticed you disappeared after a while, so what happened?”

-What do you tell her? [] The Truth, omitting certain details that you agreed not to mention… [] A half-truth, say something about spending time with friends but make no mention of who [] Lie, say you went home because you got tired or something ---------- CURSE YOU WORK AND ME WANTING MONEY! HOW DARE IT INTERFERE WITH MY WRITING "SCHEDULE"!

Anyway, I managed to get something out, but again it isn't really what I wanted. Still, it's not like I didn't want this scene. I need to FORCE you guys to interact with more characters, just so it doesn't get stale. Hopefully it isn't stale for you guys already...

It’s far better to tell a half-truth in this situation, mostly because Utsuho doesn’t seem the kind to keep a secret and you don’t want them getting the wrong idea. “Oh, I was just hanging out with friends. We stopped wandering around after a while and just sat around and talked.”

Not too long after the class starts filling up with the other students. No one questions the lack of a teacher, and they simply go about their usual activities of studying, playing paper football, talking about the latest gossip, sleeping, and eating whatever was left over from their lunch.

“Alex, did you hear me?” Cirno asks, sounding a little annoyed.

“Oh, uh, sorry. I sorta zoned out for a moment. What did you say?”

“I wanted to know if you had plans this afternoon.” She says right in your ear.

“Not that I know of, why?”

She lightly slaps Utsuho in the shoulder with the back of her hand and says, “Okuu and I are going to go play laser-tag later. Wanna come along? Oh, maybe bring some friends!”

-Choose one [] Go with them (Choose Two people to invite as well) [] Stay home with family, your aunt will likely have questions about the party. ---------- Okay, well, fuck work. That's all that needs to be said right now... "Stupid bloglike post" is stupid and unnecessary, but it makes me feel better about my day.

Anyway, I'm going to say something but feel free to ignore it. I would like you to NOT choose Mokou because you have a date with her tomorrow and I want to save her until then.

“Sure, sounds like fun,” you tell her. “I’ll ask a couple people during gym if they want to come along too.”

“Great! We’ll meet up at the mall around five, oh and don’t forget to bring some money. It costs five bucks per game, and if you want food it’ll be more, obviously.”

For the remainder of study hall Cirno brags about how she never loses at laser-tag. You, silently, attribute it to her height. In comparison, she is about an inch or two taller than Medicine, who is the shortest one of all of your friends. Utsuho on the other hand is fairly tall, being a little shorter than Shou, who is quite tall for a girl.

---

You manage to catch Rinnosuke just outside the locker room and decide to ask if he wants to go play laser-tag. “Hey there Rinnosuke.”

“Sup?” He responds with a nod.

“Not too much, you busy later?” No sense beating around the bush.

He pauses for a moment before going, “Nope, why?”

“Just wondering if you want to go play laser-tag at about five.”

“I can do that, I take it we’re going to the one at the mall?” You nod. “Okay, I have an errand to do after school, so I’ll meet you there.” With that done, the two of you go ahead and get changed for class.

---

About halfway through class, Ms. Hoshiguma switches up the dodgeball teams again, giving you a chance to talk to Momiji. “Hey, Momiji, you free later?”

“Should be, why?” She asks while laying down on the bleachers.

“I’m going to play laser-tag with some friends later and was wondering if you wanted to come along.”

“I’m in,” she says with no hesitation. “It’s been a while since I’ve done something like that. So, when and where?”

“Five o’clock at the mall,” you say evenly.

---

When class ends you head back home after Shou tells you that she’s going to pick up Kogasa and you’re aunt is currently still at the school, leaving you all alone in the house for the next twenty or so minutes.

You still have a couple hours before you need to meet up with the others…

-What do you do until then? [] Homework, can’t fall behind on schoolwork. [] Read a book, you still have a couple you checked out of the library. [] Watch TV, you haven’t done that in a long time. ---------- Seemingly pointless Choices sometimes do have an impact on the story... but not always... and if they do, I'm not telling how.

Anyway, this update is cutting it close. Mostly because I was also attempting to do schoolwork at the same time. Here's a tip for you all, NEVER try to write a paper and a story at the same time. You wind up with your update in your essay and then you have to doctor the whole thing to make sure you don't have them all mixed up.

You decide to pass the time by reading one of the books you checked out of the library. You find it rather odd, it’s novel where the main character is the antichrist and he has a guardian angel and devil both trying to get him to side with their respective sides. Rather than lock yourself in your room like a shut-in, you lay on the couch as you wait for Shou and Kogasa to get home.

When they do get home, Kogasa wastes no time turning the TV on and sit on the couch at your feet. Shou sits down in the recliner and pulls out her math textbook and notebook.

“So, how was everyone’s day?” You ask, barely looking up from your book.

“Eh, it was a day,” Shou responds half-heartedly. “I got a math quiz back today and got a B on it. So, I need to review my notes for the test tomorrow.”

“Oh right, you’re on the honor roll, right? I was going to say that a B isn’t bad, but if you want to stay at the top, I suppose it isn’t that great.”

Shou sighs as she turns the page in the textbook. “I don’t really want to be at the top. It’s just, my dad has really high expectations of me and I don’t want to let him down.”

“He’s army, right?” She grunts affirmatively. “Does he put a lot of pressure on you to study?”

“No, but I can tell that’s what he wants.” She says quietly. “All he ever asks is, ‘How are you doing? How’s school? Are you taking care of yourself? Dating anyone?’” She chuckles at that last one.

“One of those is not like the others,” you note.

“Yeah,” she says with a happy sigh, “It’s kinda joke between us at this point. He started dating my mom at when he was seventeen. They were together all the way up until I was born.”

“Any idea what happened?” You ask, urging her to go on.

“Nope, no clue. Dad won’t say a thing, but I don’t think they split up. But I can’t really say for certain. Whatever the reason, Miss Hijiri is like a mom to me now and we’re all one big dysfunctional family.” The way she says it makes the two of you chuckle while Kogasa looks confused.

“What does d-dis-funk-shun-al mean?” The aqua haired child asks after some initial trouble with the word.

“It means something that doesn’t normally work. But in our case, we’re dysfunctional because we are all so weird and we make it work.” You tell her as you fold the corner of the page you’re on.

“So, it’s a good thing?” She asks, still looking a little confused.

“Yup. I, personally, find it far more interesting this way.” Shou answers her. “If we were too similar it would be boring.”

“I guess so,” Kogasa says, looking less confused, but more anxious. “I don’t like being different though… Some of the others pick on me for it.”

“How are you different?” You ask gently. She didn’t seem to like the other children when you first met her either. Part of you is worried that she’s being bullied, and another part wants to just assume it’s kids being kids.

“They laugh at me because of my eyes. They say it’s weird and freaky.” She whimpers as she fiddles with the TV remote.

Shou get out of the chair and kneels down next to her and says, “Your eyes aren’t weird or freaky. They’re cool, and you should never let anyone tell you otherwise.”

“She’s right,” you say, sitting up and sliding over to her. “They’re part of what makes you, you. Besides, most kids start to calm down as they get older. I’m willing to be that pretty soon, they won’t even care about your eyes.”

“Really?” She asks hopefully.

“Really,” you and Shou answer soundly.

Well, that conversation took a turn for the depressing for a moment there. And now you don’t even feel like reading. Great…

-Choose One [] Head out early, gives you some time to explore [] Make something eat, you don’t exactly know how long you’re going to be out. [] Rush through your homework, better do it now than have to work on it into the wee hours of the night. ---------- >>60236So, uh, fuck... I completely skipped Math class. So, uh, we'll just say nothing important happened during fifth period, okay? Fuck... Note to self, stop rushing updates...

After making sure Kogasa is calm and back to watching TV, you decide to take a page from Shou’s book and do your homework. While it doesn’t look like much at first glance, you find it to be more than you bargained for. You still rush through it all within a couple hours though.

After putting your books away, you quickly say goodbye to Kogasa and Shou. According to Shou, your aunt has plans to go out to dinner tonight, so she’ll probably pick you up at the mall later.

You quickly check the time and see that it’s four thirty, giving you thirty minutes to get to the mall. Lucky for you, the bus is pulling into the bus stop when you arrive. You pay the paltry fee and take a seat in the back of the empty vehicle.

While you’re on the bus, you get a text from Cirno saying, “Im naming you team captain for Red Team. We will pick teams when we are all there.”

You send a reply saying, “Okay. Who else is going to be there?”

It takes a couple minutes for her to respond, but when she does there’s a fairly long list of names. “People who are going to meet up at the mall are, Cirno(duh), Utsuho, Momiji, Alex, Rinnosuke, Leon, Tyrone, Ryan, Lena, and Alexis.” You assume she sent that text to everyone, otherwise why would she add you? You also recognize all those names as people from your gym class. Doesn’t really surprise you though. Cirno probably threw this together last minute and had to get whoever she could.

When the bus stops at the mall, you can’t help but feel a little anxious and excited. You do have to consult the map near the entrance just to find out where the laser tag arena is. When you get there, it’s a little past five and everyone else is there already.

“Alright! Alex will be leading Red team, and I’ll give him first pick too!” Cirno announces as soon as she sees you. “Oh, right, I should let you know that by first pick, I mean you get to choose who’s on your team and I get the left overs. And just so you know, you can’t pick Okuu. She’s mine. All mine.” You honestly can’t tell if she’s joking around, or if there’s some underlying meaning to what she said.

“Well, that’s nice of you,” you say, noting her cocky grin. “Alright then, I choose,” you pause for a moment before quickly deciding who you want. “Momiji, Rinnosuke, Tyrone, and Alexis.” You picked Momiji and Rinnosuke because you invited them and Tyrone and Alexis are both pretty cool people from what you know of them. Ryan can be nice but most of the time he’s kind of a jerk, Leon doesn’t really talk much, and Lena is too loud for your liking.

“Okay, that leaves me with Okuu, obviously, Ryan, Leon, and Lena. I think we got this.” Cirno is just full of confidence. “Okay, take a couple minutes to talk strategy.” She pulls her team into a huddle while your team just forms a circle.

You look at your team and shrug. “Cirno may be here to win, but all I care about is having fun. Let’s just do our best and go nuts.”

The team chuckles and Rinnosuke says, “What a wonderful speech, you’d make a great general. ‘All right men, today we go into battle, but remember, it isn’t win or lose. It’s have fun and die!’”

In response, you punch him in the arm and quip, “Fine then, you get to lead the charge. We’ll just sit back and watch you get blasted.” This elicits a laugh from the others.

“Hey,” Cirno calls over to your group, “are you guys ready?” She’s already at the door, holding it open for everyone.

“Yeah, we’re ready,” you tell her as you walk over.

Inside is just a small room with two doors, one red and the other blue. You assume the doors lead to different sides of the arena. There’s a gruff looking man with short jet-black hair who easily stands a head taller than you making him at least six foot eight. He’s got sharp red eyes and a small scar under his left eye. He smiles as he sees Cirno and says in a deep, yet kind, voice, “Hello again Cirno. I see you brought a small army with you this time.”

“Yup!” Cirno says proudly. “Everyone, this is Tenma. He owns and runs this place. He might be the only one working here too, I never see anyone else behind the counter.”

“I do have other employees, and you could be one of them you know.” His voice gives off a hint of annoyance.

“Well, if I had a job, I wouldn’t be able to play as often as I do.” Cirno says pointedly. You doubt this is the first conversation they’ve had.

After paying a small fee, Tenma reserves the right to charge you extra if you damage anything, both teams enter their respective doors and go through a long hallway that lead in opposite directions. When you reach the end of the hallway, you find the door is locked.

After a moment you hear Tenma’s voice coming out of the speakers on the ceiling. “When the doors open, the match will begin immediately. When you get hit, you’re gun won’t fire and you will have to return to your base to ‘respawn’. During that time, no one will be able to score off of you either. You will know when you are hit by this sound,” a screechy beep is sounded through the PA system. “Your vest will also start glowing green. Lastly, the round will end in ten minutes. The team with the highest score will be the winners.” There’s an audible noise as the door in front of you swings open. “BEGIN!”

Your team rushes in quickly and you quickly take note of everything. There seem to be four major sections, an area with ropes dangling down to obscure vision, a staircase that leads to a catwalk, the center aisle with little cover but easy shots to anywhere else, and a small maze.

Due to the darkness of the room, you can’t really see the other side. Thus you don’t know what Cirno’s team is doing. That doesn’t stop yours from splitting up as soon as they can. Rinnosuke dives into the middle, Tyrone and Momiji go up to the catwalk, and Alexis heads towards the rope forest.

-Where do you go? [] The exposed middle [] The catwalk vantage point [] The cave maze [] The obstructive ropes ---------- Before anyone jumps down my throat about Tenma being a man, let me just say that I have always pictured him as such and do not believe it's ever been stated otherwise. I just know that I once got into an argument with someone over his/her gender and don't want to get into that again.

You decide to head up to the catwalk with Momiji and Tyrone. Despite the lack of cover, you notice that you have a good view of the area. It seems fairly symmetrical, the exception being the maze. Speaking of the maze, you can see two figures running through it due to its open top but you don’t have a clear shot, so you ignore them.

The catwalk itself quickly becomes a web of paths, so you, Momiji, and Tyrone split up to cover more ground with you taking the middle portion. Within a matter of seconds you hear the whine of the guns and vests as a small dot appears below you, presumably Rinnosuke.

Taking that as your cue, you crouch down and aim down to the ground. You see a blur move towards the ropes and quickly let off a few shots causing their vest to react and light up green. Knowing it isn’t safe to stay in the same spot, you hurry forward to find a new safe spot.

As you move, you see a spot of green light up from the direction Momiji went. You can faintly tell that she was the one shot, but can’t see anyone else over there. The center seems clear for the most part and the ropes are moving wildly keeping those in there hidden. The maze is pretty quiet, which makes you nervous.

There’s a couple lights below you that quickly rush to opposite sides of the room as well as a faint silhouette on the opposite end of your walkway. You fire at exactly the same time, but you are the only one hit, forcing you to rush back to the starting area.

When you arrive you find that the maze entrance is being guarded by two members of Cirno’s team, and there is a member at the ropes and in the center.

Thus begins eight grueling minutes of attempting to get a clear shot, only to be shot by someone else. You are slowly joined by the other members of your team, but due to Cirno covering everyone from the walkways, and her height making it an issue to see her, you can’t escape. You recall Renko complaining about “spawn-killers” whenever she played a shooter. You can only guess this is what it’s like to be on the receiving end.

When time runs out you quickly exit the room, already being at the door helps with that. You find yourself grumbling, along with the rest of your team, about how utterly one-sided that was until Cirno’s group comes out.

Cirno, being all smiles, runs over to you and goes, “Ready to go again?”

-Choose one [] Sure, why not? [] I’d rather not, it was far too one sided for my liking. [] Call her out on how rude, cheap, and unsportsmanlike it was. ---------- I've always hated spawncampers. Especially when there's only one area that your team can spawn in and you wind up completely pinned down and can't do a thing about it.

“I’m not sure,” you tell her. “That last match was really unfair.” Cirno stops smiling almost instantly, but doesn’t say anything. “I mean, we couldn’t even do anything. Even when we did hit one of you, we got shot within seconds! By that time, you would be back to your spot and we’d just repeat the cycle all over again. We had no cover there and it was just a shooting gallery. I don’t really want to pay for another round of doing nothing.” You finish rather sharply.

Cirno looks to the ground, but still doesn’t say anything making you feel like a jerk. Momiji quickly picks up where you left off by saying, “He’s right you know. That was hardly fun on our end. It wasn’t sporting, it wasn’t fair, and it wasn’t fun.” She pauses for a moment as if to gauge Cirno’s reaction, but still nothing. “If you play like this all of the time,” Momiji continues, “then I don’t know if I want to play another round.”

“It wasn’t really that fun for me either,” Lean mumbles. Showing that even her own team didn’t like it. “I went along with it because I thought they’d be able to do something.”

At that point, pretty much everyone, aside from Utsuho and Cirno, agree that it wasn’t fair and they should have done something different.

In response to all this, Cirno seems to shrink away. You can tell she isn’t used to people calling her out on things like this, but it needed to be done. “I’m sorry,” she mumbles before quickly removing her vest and leaving it behind as she runs out the door.

Not the response you were expecting. Nor was it the one anyone else was expecting either.

Utsuho shuffles around nervously for a moment before saying, “She’s always like this.” You, and everyone else, look at her as if to urge her to go on. “She doesn’t like to lose and so she tries to win by not letting anyone else have a chance. That’s why she always wants me on her team, so I don’t get stuck like that.” She pauses for a moment, unsure if she wants to continue. “Cirno always has to find new people to play with us because of this. And she always talks our team into this strategy as well. I tell her we should just play normally and have fun, but to her, this is fun.” Unsure of how to respond, no one says anything as Utsuho takes of her vest and heads for the door. “I should probably go after her. Uh, I’ll see you all tomorrow.”

-Choose one [] Go with Utsuho. You want to make sure Cirno knows you aren’t mad at her, just the way she played and if she agrees not to play like that again you’ll be fine with another round. [] See if one of the others wants to do something else for a little while (Who?) [] Explore the mall on your own. ---------- I HATE MY INTERNET! Seriously, it works fine during the day, but when the sun goes down, it turns to shit. It makes trying to post a major pain in the ass...

“A big difference,” you say evenly. “If I was mad at her, I wouldn’t want to make sure she’s okay. I’m upset, but she’s still my friend and I want to let her know that.”

She nods her head in understanding. “Thank you.” You aren’t sure why she’s thanking you, but it doesn’t matter right now.

“So, any idea where she ran off to?” You ask, seeing that Utsuho seems to know exactly where to go you assume that she does.

“Cirno always buys ice-cream when she gets upset. She’ll eat until she gets sick, then she’ll crawl home and sleep it off, and in the morning act like everything is fine and nothing happened.” The way Utsuho’s speaking is a major contrast to her usual fluffy, bright, energetic self. Now she seems depressed, dull, and tired. She’s likely highly empathetic to how others are feeling, and when they’re feeling down, she is too.

“That doesn’t sound like the healthiest way to deal with her problems,” you note as you scan the food court for Cirno. “How often does this happen?”

“Not terribly often, but still often enough that I worry about her.” Utsuho looks around and points over to a small table with a familiar head of light blue hair. “If you want, you can go up to her first and say whatever it is you want to say to her. Or we could go together. I think it might look better if you go on your own though. That way it doesn’t look like I dragged you along.”

“Why would it look like that?” You ask with a raised eyebrow.

“Because I’ve done it before…” She does not sound proud of that fact.

-Choose [] Go alone [] Go Together ---------- Between fighting my internet, trying to stay awake, and do my schoolwork I didn't really feel like/have time to do a long update. Sorry if this feels like a cop out to you guys.

I've been meaning to update that story for a while now because it's been nagging me in the back of my mind. Plus, I've been writing it bit by bit for the past week or so after updating this.

I also wanted to do something PROPER for the next update, due to it being the hundredth update and all. It feels like a big deal to me at least. So, being off tomorrow will give me some time to write something more than a page or two long. A page or two with Double Spaced lines that is...

The next update will be in a new thread too. Feel free to keep voting/ask questions/voice concerns/call me a faggot/etc.